Wheeler House

133 South Prospect Street

In
1840, Reverend John B. Wheeler, the President of the University of Vermont at
the time, commissioned Boston-based architect Ammi B. Young to draw up plans
for a new residence for him and his family.
[1]
Located at the corner South Prospect and Main Streets, the house, built in the
Greek Revival style, was in a prominent location on the University Green, with
picturesque views of Lake Champlain to the west. The 1840 “Designs for a
dwelling house for Rev. John Wheeler, President of the University of Vermont at
Burlington” showed a more ornate exterior for the house than was actually
constructed. The main entrance was to be on Main Street and the most northern
portion of the ell was to serve as a shed.
[2]
Both porches on the western face of the house were thin and framed with
lattice. The lattice porch on the ell remained but the porch on the main block
was replaced with a gothic style veranda most likely in the early 1870’s. The
1877 Birds Eye View of Burlington
[3]
showed a
singular porch on the western face of the Wheeler House, the porch on the main
block. If both porches were still the lattice, slender porches it seems strange
that porch on the main block would be shown and the porch on the ell would be
left off. It is likely that the more substantial Gothic Veranda had been added
to the main block in place of the lattice porch and is the porch depicted on
the drawing. The drawing also shows two exterior structures, most likely a
stable and shed. It is unclear whether or not the two structures are original
to the house, though they appear on a 1853 map of Burlington
[4]
and again on the1890 map.
[5]

J. L.
Hills described the house as, “a fine old mansion on the corner of Main and
South Prospect Streets facing the front campus with spacious grounds
surrounding it…built by President Wheeler some years after he took office.”
[6]
It was rumored that Phi Beta Kappa was founded in President Wheeler’s study in
1848, but no evidence was found to support such a claim. It is also rumored that
the Wheeler House housed run away slaves as part of the Underground Railroad.
[7]
Though it cannot be confirmed, in 1859 Rev. John Wheeler was the president of
the Vermont Colonization Society
[8]
and Raymond
Paul Zirblis, author of Friends of
Freedom: The Vermont Underground Railroad Survey Report, claims John
Wheeler may have aided refuges.
[9]
If it true
that the Wheeler House was part of the Underground Railroad, it would add
another chapter the Wheeler House’s already rich history.

Rev.
John Wheeler passed away in 1862 and his wife at the time, Mary Constance
Wheeler, continued to live at 133 South Prospect Street. She was listed in the
first Burlington city directory in 1865
[10]
and remained listed on South Prospect Street until 1884
[11]
.
From 1885
[12]
to 1890,
[13]
Mrs. William Russell boarded at 133 South Prospect Street and then in 1892,
[14]
Mary and her son James were re-listed at 133 South Prospect. It is unclear by
the Wheeler rented out their residence during those five or six years. Mary
Constance Wheeler remained listed at her address until her death in March of
1904. The house was then listed under, James R. Wheeler, who was a Professor of
Greek at Columbia College in New York.
[15]
On the 1906 Sanborn Map, the smaller shed that was on the northwestern edge of
the property on the earlier maps has been removed and a small wooden structure
was been constructed directly north of the ell.
[16]
The thin shed reappeared on the 1912 Sanborn map.
[17]
The house and exterior buildings remained in J. R. Wheeler’s name after his
death until 1920.
[18]
Figure 8,
courtesy of the University of Vermont’s Special Collections, shows the Wheeler
House during the years when Professor J.R. Wheeler owned it. In 1920, the house
was listed as a woman’s dormitory for the University of Vermont. The UVM
Catalogue for those years supports this citation, “The spacious residence of
the late Prof. J.R Wheeler, situated at the northwest corner of Main and South
Prospect Street, and adjoining the campus, has been rented the past two years
as a dormitory for women.”
[19]
In 1921,
the President of the University of Vermont, Guy W. Bailey was listed at 133
South Prospect Street until 1924.
[20]
In 1925,
Jane Wheeler, James’ widow, was listed at the Wheeler House until 1942 when
the house was transferred to Constance Wheeler, under whom it was listed in
1943.
[21]
On the 1926 Sanborn Map,
[22]
the small
wooden structure to the north of the house is not depicted, however, it does
show up again on the 1942 map.
[23]
Also, the
stable that was shown on 1906 map was most likely converted into the automobile
garage shown on 1926 map, a sign of the progressing modes of transportation.
[24]

When
the Wheeler House went onto the real estate market in 1943, the University of
Vermont did not have the funds to purchase the house that had been so closely
tied with the University since its construction.
[25]
Instead, L.J. Schildhause, an individual interested in real estate development,
purchased the house.
[26]
Worried
about potentially losing the historic house, a group of faculty, friends and
alumni of the University banded together to create a group to prevent the loss
of the building. The house was purchased a short-term option to buy it. Their
plan was to present it to the University.
[27]
The proper funds had to be raised by April 1, 1944 in order to purchase the
building and use it as an infirmary for the University. Some funds had been
raised fifteen years prior in honor of Mrs. Pearl Randall Wasson, but an
additional forty thousand dollars still needed to be raised to save the house
and in turn preserve one of Burlington’s, “finest old homesteads.”
[28]
Funds were raised in time and the house was purchased for the University. The
Wheeler House was renovated and the 1944 blueprints of the house show a
treatment room, doctor’s office, nurse’s quarters and waiting room on the first
floor, as well as the kitchen, dining room and toilets. The second floor had
four men’s bedrooms, six women’s bedroom, nurse’s quarters, a serving room and
multiple closets and bathrooms.
[29]

In the 1970s the Wheeler House became home to
different University program. The Wasson Infirmary relocated and the History
Department and Historic Preservation Program moved into the Wheeler House.
[30]
The small shed depicted on the 1942 Sanborn Map was missing from the 1978 map,
[31]
perhaps
it was a causality of the 1970’s renovations. The garage, seen here in this photo
taken by Jenna Lapachinski, has been on the map
since 1906, was still on the grounds in the 1970s, and remains there today. Also,
during the $85,000 renovation process of the 1970s,
[32]
the veranda on the western face of the main block was converted into a
wheelchair ramp to provide access to the house. The ramp remained in use until
the summer of 2011 when the west veranda was restored with the aid of
historical photographs. The photo below, taken by Jenna Lapachinski,
shows Wheeler House in the fall of 2011.

In 2002 Klaus Herbrich created a sculpture
for the grounds of the Wheeler House. “Lifeline/Libenslinie” was a sculpture
made of Vermont Serpentine.
[33]
Two
rectangular blocks of stone have a white vein running through them. If the
stones are lined up, then the vein is broken, but if flexibility is allowed
with the placement of the two stones, the vein can align. It can be seen as metaphor
for the Wheeler House and the University. Due to flexibility being allowed, the
Wheeler House and the University were able to stay on the same lifeline. The
Wheeler House remains the home of the History Department and the Historic
Preservation Program and is a contributing structure to the University Green
Historic District.